Paranormal Experiences and Sleep Paralysis

[shawn001]

Consciousness is everywhere? Huh? Interesting. That's sounds like panpsychism.


No not panpsychism with him, nor was that what he meant. The other person you posted perhaps, but that is one single persons idea, not the vast information on neuroscience.


Does Harris really identify himself as an atheist?

Yes


Harris is a contemporary critic of religion and proponent of scientific skepticism and the "New Atheism".[5] He is also an advocate for the separation of church and state,freedom of religion, and the liberty to criticize religion.[6] Harris has written numerous articles for The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Newsweek, and the journal Nature. His articles touch upon a diversity of topics including religion, morality, neuroscience, free will, terrorism, and self-defense.[7]

In his 2010 book The Moral Landscape, Harris argues that science can help answer moral problems and can aid the facilitation of human well-being.[6] He regularly gives talks around the United States and Great Britain, which include speeches at the University of Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Caltech, Berkeley, Stanford University, andTufts University. He also gave a shortened speech at TED, where he outlined the arguments made in his book The Moral Landscape.[8] Harris has also made numerous television appearances, including interviews for Nightline, Real Time with Bill Maher, The O'Reilly Factor, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and The Last Word, among others. He has also appeared in the documentary films The God Who Wasn't There (2005) and The Unbelievers (2013).

Harris was raised by a secular Jewish mother and a Quaker father, but has publicly stated that his upbringing was entirely secular. Fellow religion critic Christopher Hitchens once referred to Harris as a "Jewish warrior against theocracy and bigotry of all stripes"

Sam Harris (author) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"And it would appear that Harris does believe in psychic phenomena."

Not quite, much more complex then what your saying for sure. He does not support your view though, because he, like everyone else wants proof and their isn't any.


Is that why Harris's most recent book is entitled "Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion"?

The Path Between Pseudo-Spirituality and Pseudo-Science

The Path Between Pseudo-Spirituality and Pseudo-Science : Sam Harris

and one of the things I was pointing out was that you were looking at very old information going back to 2005, a TON has been done since then.

 

[shawn001]

I experience it once in Madinah in age 17, i was lying in bed trying to sleep , then suddenly i feel something touch me (get inside me) from bottom of my feet , and in same time i paralysed for 10 to 15 seconds , than that thing gone .

"i paralysed for 10 to 15 seconds"

which can happen as you go into different sleep cycles for some people. This is paranormal is a physiological response with sleep.

 

[shawn001]

Souls do not Exist
[URL='http://www.humantruth.info/index_souls.html']Evidence from Science & Philosophy Against Mind-Body Dualism

[/URL]
Our 'minds', 'souls', 'spirit' and consciousness are all physical in nature. Thousands of years of investigation has shown us that our brainscomprise and produce our true selves, although because that for most of human history we have had no understanding of how our brains work most Humans have falsely believed inferred that we have souls1. Souls and spirits do not exist. Our bodies run themselves. We know from cases of brain damage and the effects of psychoactive drugs, that our experiences are caused by physical chemistry acting on our physical neurones in our brains. Our innermost self is our biochemical self.


Souls do not Exist: Evidence from Science & Philosophy Against Mind-Body Dualism

You need to have a nervous system to be concious. You need a nervous system to move, if you move you need to "predict" the future.


The Evolutionary and Genetic Origins of Consciousness (500 Million Years Ago)

From the open access journal Frontiers in Psychology: Consciousness Research, this is an excellent review and overview of the development of consciousness beginning about 500 million years ago during the Cambrian Period.

Integral Options Cafe: The Evolutionary and Genetic Origins of Consciousness (500 Million Years Ago)

 

[shawn001]

Gambit, I am trying but haven't fund it yet a new group of researchers who think they have found the "Seat of consciousness" besides the one I already posted you didn't comment on.

 

[shawn001]

By the way souls are a pagan concept and its worth reading all of the view from religions on the soul on this page, many religious people have it wrong as well according to their own religions.

But


God Does Not Need Souls
“Souls are unnecessary. Consciousness can come from flesh. God's memory is infinitely perfect and it knows our personality and memories better than we do. God can simply revive and restore our consciousness without the need for souls. To claim God needs souls is to deny God's omnipotency. The biological and chemical make-up of our brains and consciousness is known perfectly to God, its own memory is sufficient, God simply contains all of us. It can recreate us, including our personality and memories, as they were at any point in our life, all without the need for wobbly souls. The belief in an all-powerful God is logically incompatible with the belief in necessary souls.”

"God Does Not need Prayer, Prophets, Souls, Evangelists, etc: 6. Souls"
Vexen Crabtree (2004)

 

[Gambit]

The Path Between Pseudo-Spirituality and Pseudo-Science

The Path Between Pseudo-Spirituality and Pseudo-Science : Sam Harris

and one of the things I was pointing out was that you were looking at very old information going back to 2005, a TON has been done since then.

It doesn't appear nothing has changed in the views of Sam Harris as made evident by the following quote.

I have been waiting for more than a decade to write Waking Up. Long before I saw any reason to criticize religion (The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation), or to connect moral and scientific truths (The Moral Landscape, Free Will), I was interested in the nature of human consciousness and the possibility of spiritual experience.

(source: "The Path Between Pseudo-Spirituality and Pseudo-Science" by Sam Harris)

The second half of the "End of Faith" was dedicated to "spirituality and/or mysticism." Can you say "nirvana?"

Even the contemporary literature on consciousnes, which spans philosophy, cognitive science, psychology, and neuroscience, cannot match the kind of precise, phenomenological studies that can found throughout the Buddhist canon. (source: pg. 209, "The End of Faith" by Sam Harris)

 

[Bunyip]

It doesn't appear nothing has changed in the views of Sam Harris as made evident by the following quote.



The second half of the "End of Faith" was dedicated to "spirituality and/or mysticism." Can you say "nirvana?"

May I ask why you rely so much on Harris as an authority?

 

[Gambit]

May I ask why you rely so much on Harris as an authority?

I don't consider him to be an authority. But I do consider him to be one of public faces of atheism and skepticism.

 

[shawn001]

Again Gambit Sam Harris is an atheist.

In response to The End of Faith, Sam Harris received thousands of letters from Christians excoriating him for not believing in God. Letter to A Christian Nationis his reply. Using rational argument, Harris offers a measured refutation of the beliefs that form the core of fundamentalist Christianity. In the course of his argument, he addresses current topics ranging from intelligent design and stem-cell research to the connections between religion and violence. In Letter to a Christian Nation, Sam Harris boldly challenges the influence that faith has on public life in our nation. In his "Note to the Reader," he writes:

Letter to A Christian Nation : Sam Harris

You might also notice his endorsements here.

10 MYTHS—AND 10 TRUTHS—ABOUT ATHEISM

10 myths—and 10 Truths—About Atheism : : Sam Harris

You have not pointed to anything that says he believes in the supernatural or paranormal. If he is an atheist, that wouldn't go over well.

 

[shawn001]

I don't consider him an authority. But I do consider him to be one of public faces of atheism and skepticism.

Right which is why he does not subscribe to your personal views. Your cherry picking I even knew what lines you would pick up on. I can probably post them before you do. LOL

Its a lot of research your leaving out in your replies though that is telling for one.

 

[Gambit]

You have not pointed to anything that says he believes in the supernatural or paranormal. If he is an atheist, that wouldn't go over well.

I have. But the problem is that you're in denial.

"There also seems to be a body of data attesting to the reality of psychic phenomena, much of which has been ignored by mainstream science,[18] The dictum, that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" remains a reasonable guide in these areas, but this does not mean that the universe isn't far stranger than many of us suppose. It is important to realize that a healthy, scientific skepticism is compatible with a fundamental openness of mind."

(source: pg. 41, "The End of Faith" by Sam Harris)

[18] See, e.g. D. Radin, "The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena"...R. Sheldrake, "The Sense of Being Stared At: And Other Aspects of the Extended Mind"..., and R.S. Bobrow, "Paranormal Phenomena in the Medical Literature Sufficient Smoke to Warrant a Search for Fire," Medical Hypotheses 60 ....There may even be some credible evidence for reincarnation. See I. Stevenson, "Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation...., Unlearned Language: New Studies in Xenoglossy"...., and "Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect"

(source: (Notes to pages 41-45) pg. 242, "The End of Faith" by Sam Harris)

 

[shawn001]

"extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"

exactly and you have not provided any. Its not that I am in denial. You or anyone else doesn't have it in hundreds of years. Nor do you really understand some of what these scientists are saying and for some its just their opinion. But no one has proved anything. So where is your extraordinary evidence?

"universe isn't far stranger than many of us suppose"

I bet if you, if I started to go into QM theory here with you it be far stranger then anything you could dream up even,. Some people who didn't know might think its supernatural even.

Just like Night terrors that have been explain naturally now.

 

[Bunyip]

I don't consider him to be an authority. But I do consider him to be one of public faces of atheism and skepticism.

I'm surprised you should say that - Harris is not at all one of the public faces of atheism, atheism is not an organisation. Harris does not represent either atheists or skeptics.

More importantly he is not even arguing that any paranormal aspect to consciousness has been evidenced.

 

[allfoak]

So would those who have met pixies, leprechauns and smurfs I imagine.

I would imagine.

Human beings are creatures of both reason and intuition.
Those that propose one to be more important than the other will live an unbalanced life.

 

[Gambit]

"extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"

The "Sagan Standard" is often invoked by skeptics.

Sagan is also widely regarded as a freethinker or skeptic; one of his most famous quotations, in Cosmos, was, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"[76] (called the "Sagan Standard" by some[77])

(source: Wikipedia: Carl Sagan)

What does Carl Sagan say on the matter of parapsychology?

“… there are three claims in the ESP field which, in my opinion, deserve serious study: (1) that by thought alone humans can (barely) affect random number generators in computers; (2) that people under mild sensory deprivation can receive thoughts or images “projected” at them; and (3) that young children sometimes report the details of a previous life, which upon checking turn out to be accurate and which they could not have known about in any way other than reincarnation.” - Carl Sagan

(source: p. 302, "The Demon-Haunted World" by Carl Sagan)

 

[Gambit]

I'm surprised you should say that - Harris is not at all one of the public faces of atheism, atheism is not an organisation. Harris does not represent either atheists or skeptics.

Sam Harris is one the four most prominent atheists of the "New Atheism" movement.

More importantly he is not even arguing that any paranormal aspect to consciousness has been evidenced.

I have already provided documentation in this thread that he has.

 

[Bunyip]

Sam Harris is one the four most prominent atheists of the "New Atheism" movement.



I have already provided documentation in this thread that he has.

Mate, there is no such thing as the 'New atheist movement' it was just the title of a magazine article. And no you have not, he has no such evidence. Harris feels that paranormal researchers have been unfairly stigmatised, but is not claiming to have any evidence of the paranormal.

 

[Bunyip]

I would imagine.

Human beings are creatures of both reason and intuition.
Those that propose one to be more important than the other will live an unbalanced life.

Sure, I agree with you. The problems come when people confuse their intuitions for reasoning and visa versa.

 

[MD]

Yes you said that in a previous post and I pointed out that I never said it was. Of course eclectricity is not the same as biochemistry (second time). Personal attacks are not an argument mate. If you had an argument or an intelligent rebuttal you would have posted it. Reading your responses, you seem very mixed up about what the 'hard problem' actually is. It is not arguing that consciousness is physical, or that it is not a product of the physical mind. It doesn't actually conflict with my position. As i said, the 'hard problem' is an idea from Chalmers, it is not a scientific law, it has never been universally accepted and does not argue what you seem to think.The 'hard problem' is controversial - it has never been universally accepted and it is hotly contested whether it even exists or not. Your denial of that simple truth is not a rational rebuttal.

You keep on switching on yourself, are you confused? You can't handle criticism and then you call it personal attacks? Sounds like you have a problem with being wrong, maybe it's something you should consider changing in your life. Deleting posts and then backtracking on what you said does nothing more than to show that you're a liar. You specifically said Biochemistry is all there is to consciousness, now you are dishonestly running away like a child from this claim.

You actually have confusion with what the Hard Problem is. It is basically asking how does consciousness arise from the brain. It is the ontological gap. The idea is not from Chalmers, and anyone with any basic knowledge in the history of philosophy would know that. It's an ancient problem and Chalmers just gave it that name for now.

I pretty much gave three huge fields which deal with cognition where it's not controversial anymore and it's not hotly contested. Providing some sources from obscure academics and a philosopher whose views have been debunked does nothing more than show that you're no different from those climate change deniers who provide one or two scientists to claim that climate change is 'controversial'.

Your arguments are nothing short of pathetic.

 

[MD]

First

Christof Koch.

"While the ancient Egyptians and Hebrews placed the psyche in the heart and the Mayans located it in the liver, we now know that the conscious mind is a product of the brain. That the world of the mind is closely related to the physical structure of the brain is dramatically demonstrated by a stroke or a strong blow to the head that extinguishes conscious experiences."

Consciousness Is Everywhere | Christof Koch

Sam Harris is an atheist and doesn't believe in the paranormal.

Second your quote is from Sam Harris in 2005. Its 2014 and neuroscience knows a whole lot more then in 2005. Ten years later.

They think recently they might have found "The SEAT" of consciousness. Although this is a study with one person. There is another team as well.

Consciousness on-off switch discovered deep in brain

Consciousness on-off switch discovered deep in brain - life - 02 July 2014 - New Scientist

By the way your defeating your own paranormal ideas by posting those scientists.

Nor do you seem to understand the discussion of the actual neuroscience and how the brain works. That would be a good start and its REALLY interesting.

Someone to look into if you want to learn some neuroscience Dr. V.S. Ramachandran.

"Vilayanur Ramachandran has been called a Sherlock Holmes of neuroscience. Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego, and adjunct professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, Ramachandran has brilliantly sleuthed his way through some of the strangest maladies of the human mind."

He has helped a lot of people with

"In cases of phantom limbs, amputees and even those born without one or more limbs feel pain and other sensations in their missing body parts. Here, read neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran's vivid descriptions of his experiences with phantom-limb patients and how he has managed to understand their singular dilemmas and thereby help them."

NOVA | From Ramachandran's Notebook

But he has done a lot more in the field of neuroscience.

If you bothered to read more than post bits and pieces from articles, it would serve you well.

Ramachandran has made laws on qualia. Qualia are part of the Hard Problem, he acknowledges that subjective experiences exist.

Koch (and Tononi) has basically come out and said that consciousness is a fabric of the universe. You really should do your homework first before trying to prove someone wrong when in fact you look awfully ignorant.